This is Gonna Be Dark /////// Isabelle Ferguson

   SPOILERS AND ICKY DARKNESS AHEAD 

    I love Tumblr posts about symbolism in movies. One that really stuck with me was about the movie Maleficent. In a scene where the Faerie is reunited with her childhood love, something is stolen from her. The man, Stefan, comes to his childhood love in a way that gains her trust. Though she hasn't seen him in a while, he manipulates her to believe he is trying to help her. She believes him, because, well, she hasn't a reason not to trust him. Maleficent was not blind to the cruelty of the humans against her people, but she had seen a different side through Stefan. He gives her a drink with a sleeping syrup in it to disarm her physically, as he has already disarmed her mentally. While she sleeps, he cuts her wings from her back. This is all out of greed, as he grew up poor. Maleficent wakes up disoriented, in pain, and with a feeling of betrayal deep enough to turn her from her good nature. The Tumblr post I read compared this scene to what it is like to be taken advantage of. For example, a person is at a party, and something is put into their drink while they aren't looking. They black out, and there's no way of describing how they feel when they wake up. 

    I would like to take this symbolism a step further in O'Connor's Good Country People. Hulga is a girl with a wooden leg and an incredible mind. She steels herself to everyone around her. When the Bible salesman (or rather, conman) shows an interest in her and, more specifically, her leg, this steel wall is cracked. The salesman further disarms her with his charms and connections. We all saw with the way he approached her mother, he knows, literally, every persuasive tactic in the book (appeal to morals, flattery, pity, etc.). He sees something in (on) Hulga that he wants. He disarms her mentally through flattery and challenge. By keeping up an innocent facade, the con artist made Hulga believe she was the one in control. Her cockiness blinds her to the fact that she was being played. She decides to trust a man she just met. In the end, he disarms her physically, and he gets what he wants. I put forth that Hulga's wooden leg is the same symbolism as Maleficent's wings. Both were disarmed by men. Both lost major pieces of themselves. 

Comments

  1. Raygan BosterMarch 28, 2022 at 11:58 PM

    I really like how you mentioned that Hulga's cockiness blinded her to the reality of what was actually happening. It really does blind people to the truth of what is happening. A lot of times we think "oh but that will never happen to me" when, in fact, it can happen to anyone and being aware of that can help you avoid dangerous situations.

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